El
Salvador offers the three key ingredients necessary for making,
what many would call, the best cup of coffee in the world: high
altitude, rich volcanic soil, and a climate that is the perfect
combination of rain and sun. For more than 50 years, Omoma Coffee,
a company rich in family tradition and excellence in coffee production,
has enjoyed well-deserved recognition for their superior coffee.

Based
in El Salvador, Omoma Coffee achieved much international success
while supplying its green beans to some of the largest coffee companies
in the world, including Illy and Nestle Europe. In early 2006, with
the palate of the US market primed with sophistication, a sales
and distribution division was launched in the United States. With
family members at the helm, Omoma Coffee’s US presence was
now under the direction of the newly formed Araten-Castillo Distribution,
LLC.

“People
in the US were ready,” said Jennifer Araten-Castillo, Co-Owner
of Omoma Coffee’s US distributor. “They were educated
about coffee, they had refined tastes, and they were excited to
try different coffees from different regions of the world. Coffee
lovers were treating coffee like wine. The time was right,”
she added.

The
right combination of climate and volcanic earth will undoubtedly
breed a high quality coffee, but what makes Omoma Coffee so superior?
Clearly, it is the special, indigenous hybrid beans called Pacamara
that makes Omoma Coffee so outstanding.

Derived
from a hybrid Arábica coffee tree developed by the Salvadorean
Coffee Research Institute (ISIC) in the late 1950s, Pacamara beans
produce a superior coffee. This special and rare coffee bean is
a unique marriage of the famous "Maragogype" Arábica
and "Pacas", a Salvadorean high yielding mutation of the
Arábica hybrid "San Ramón Bourbon". Discovered
in 1956 by two of the most prominent coffee producers of El Salvador,
Don Alberto Pacas and Don Francisco De Sola with the help of Dr.
William Cogwill of the University of Florida, the world famous Pacamara
(strictly high grown) bean is the staple of Omoma Coffee's blend.
Known for its bold yet well-balanced flavor, Omoma proudly offered
the US market the first roasted version of the Pacamara beans and
received immediate attention from coffee lovers around the country.

The
meaning of the word omoma can be traced back to a time in El Salvador’s
history that pre-dates the Spanish conquest. Omoma is a native word
derived from the Lenca Tribe, one of the native Indian cultures
that lived in Central America. History reports that the name Omoma
was given to the Lenca settlement, a settlement situated on the
Cacahuatique Mountain and governed by a tribal leader named Omomatzitl.
When the Spanish arrived they renamed the Empire of Omoma to Ciudad
Barrios honoring the Spanish General Gerardo Barrios who brought
coffee plants to the land in 1835 and built the first coffee mill
in El Salvador. More than 50 years ago, the Portillo family named
their fincas (coffee plantations) Omoma, a name which honors the
cultural significance of the land and the history of its people.

Today,
the family business has grown and expanded but not at the expense
of quality. Omoma Coffee proudly offers the US market their outstanding
coffee in three varieties:

American
(Medium) – robust and well-balanced roast, the perfect
blend to please even the most discerning taste buds.European (Dark) – a rich full-bodied yet smooth coffee
– the company’s bestseller.Espresso – the ultimate in decadence, rich taste with
a depth of flavors.

Modestly
priced at $12.99 for a one-pound bag ($7.49 for a half-pound bag),
the 100% Arabica coffee is offered whole bean or ground. Omoma Coffee
is grown, picked, roasted and packaged in El Salvador adhering to
the same high production standards that resulted in international
acclaim. Omoma Coffee is distributed in the US by Araten-Castillo
Distribution, LLC. www.OmomaCoffee.com.

Portland Roasting Aims to Reduce Illiteracy in Papua New Guinea Through Ready to Read

In support of its Farm Friendly Direct™ relationship with the Madan Estate in Papua New Guinea, Portland Roasting Coffee Company has launched Ready to Read, a book drive aimed at increasing literacy in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

From now through Friday, November 20, 2009, Portland Roasting invites its wholesale customers – and their coffee-drinking customers – to donate new or gently used children’s books, or unused encyclopedia sets, to Ready to Read. The books will stock the shelves of a future community center and adjoining preschool on the grounds of the Madan Estate, which is located about 12 miles outside of Mount Hagen (pop. 40,000), the capital and largest city of the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

Portland Roasting is encouraging donations of easy-to-read books and primers of all sorts for Ready to Read. Several cafés that serve Portland Roasting coffee have collection bins onsite, including these area establishments:

Blue Moose Café, 4936 NE Fremont St., Portland

Blue Pepper Gallery, 241 Commercial St. NE, Salem

Cup and Saucer, 3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland

Cup and Saucer, 3000 NE Killingsworth St., Portland

Cup and Saucer, 8236 N Denver Ave., Portland

Elephants Delicatessen, 115 NW 22nd Ave., Portland

Flying Elephants (Fox Tower), 812 SW Park Ave., Portland

Flying Elephants (Kruse Way), 5885 SW Meadows Rd., Lake Oswego

Twin Paradox, 8609 SE 17th Ave., Portland

Individuals are also welcome to drop off books at Portland Roasting’s headquarters, located at 340 SE 7th Avenue, in Portland.

“Papua New Guinea has a high rate of illiteracy, and books are scarce,” said Aarlie Hull, owner of New Guinea Traders LLC, which owns the Madan Estate. “The women of our community are mostly illiterate and are very motivated to learn to read and write. It is only logical that we provide them with the tools to help them learn.”

“Our goal is to create a well-stocked library for the families and community of the Madan Estate,” said Mark Stell, founder and managing partner of Portland Roasting. “We’re looking forward to seeing how many books we can fit into a shipping container.”

Through New Guinea Traders LLC, Portland Roasting has been purchasing green (unroasted) coffee beans from the Madan Estate since 2003. In 2004, the roaster previously partnered with the Madan Estate to build a Kinjibi tribal school. For more info: www.portlandroasting.com.

Madhulika
Pareek-Joshi is a medical doctor from India who emigrated to the
United States in 2001 to start a new life with her American husband. When
she learned that as a foreign medical school graduate she would
have to repeat her residency to practice medicine in the U.S. she
decided that she didn’t want to wait
another five years to start her professional life and started to
explore other options.

Coming
from a country and a family with deep roots in the tea industry,
and surprised at the lack of quality tea she found here, Dr. Pareek-Joshi
decided to change the focus of her career. “Given that
many generations of my family members back in India are in the tea
business, it seemed natural for me to start a tea company here in
the U.S.,” said Dr. Pareek-Joshi. “My
husband too comes from a tea family. His great grandfather started
a family tea garden, Soureni Tea Estate in Darjeeling, which was
then passed down through generations. Since my husband was actually
born on this tea garden he likes to say that its not blood but tea
that flows through his veins,” she added.

In
2004, filled with lifelong experience and newfound ambition, Dr.
Pareek-Joshi and her husband created Jaya Teas. Jaya, which
means “victory” in
Sanskrit (and also happens to be name of their daughter), pledges
to bring to the U.S. market some of the best teas Indian gardens
have to offer. Today, Jaya Teas operates a successful tea business
out of their headquarters in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

“With
increasing popularity of single estate teas, some people tend to
depend solely upon the name of the estate as a mark of quality. However,
even if the tea is from the same estate, it might actually be a
blend of superior high grown and inferior low growth teas,” said
Dr. Pareek-Joshi. “Our
teas are hand-selected by members of our family in India who, collectively,
have more than 50 years of experience in the Indian tea industry.” Because
of their unwavering dedication to quality, Jaya Teas guarantees every
single purchase with a no questions asked, money-back guarantee
of satisfaction.

The
owners of Jaya Teas go to great lengths to ensure that the tea you
receive is the freshest, highest quality tea.

Besides
marketing well-known estate teas, Jaya Teas manufactures its own
teas such as the famous Mirik Leaf tea, manufactured using the
age-old process of shade drying the tea.

For
Jaya Teas, it not simply about selling tea, it is about the quality
of the tea. “You will not find fancy packaging or bright
colors to seduce you. But you will be wonderfully satisfied with
the quality of our teas and the experience they deliver,” said
Dr. Pareek-Joshi.

Visit www.jayateas.com to
purchase any of their spectacular teas. The holidays are fast
approaching and tea makes a great gift. Check out their specialty
gift baskets and teaware and send the gift of tea.

When
two hippies running from the urban fast lanes of the East Coast
met in the early 1970s they came to the conclusion that “making
roasting coffee was a better way to support ourselves than stringing
beads, making leather items or candles.” And so begins the
story of the Thanksgiving Coffee Company.

“Joan
and I were not looking to save the world when we founded the company.
We just wanted to supply California’s north coast with the
best coffee possible,” said owner Paul Katzeff. “At
the time that meant bringing a spirit of craftsmanship to a stale-coffee-in-a-can
industry.”

Living
in New York’s bohemian Greenwich Village in the 1960s, Paul
Katzeff spent a good deal of time hanging out in coffeehouses.
It was during this time that he was able to sample delicious and
unique coffees that hailed from different regions of the world,
not from a can on the supermarket shelf. This cultivated appreciation
for superior coffee flavor led him to seek out local merchants
who would offer flavorful coffee from various origins, yet found
just a few. He affectionately refers to the coffee bean stores
in Manhattan as “ethnic roasters” because they independently
promoted their wares as better than the canned coffees of the
day. “These pioneers were into flavor. They helped define
the concept of Artisan Roaster and set the stage for my work to
come as a coffee roaster” said Katzeff.

It
was back in 1972 that Joan and Paul set up a twenty-five pound
roaster at the Mendocino Hotel and began their journey. A journey
that they never expected nor dreamed would take them to where
they are today. The Thanksgiving Coffee Company became a public
company in 1996. It now roasts over 600,000 lbs of coffee a year
and employs 30 well-cared-for local residents, half of whom have
worked at the Thanksgiving Coffee Company for more than 15 years.

The
Thanksgiving Coffee is committed to leaving a light ecological
footprint. “We continuously strive to find ways to lessen
our impact on the environment, from farm to cup, said Mr. Katzeff.
“We buy many organic and shade grown coffees, and also work
directly with farmers to help increase access to knowledge and
resources that will allow them to transition into more sustainable
farming practices.” For the past 10 years, they have looked
inward at their operations and worked to reduce waste through
recycling, on-site worm composting, running delivery trucks on
a percentage of biodiesel, and using recycled paper for printed
materials. Each week they are visited by local farmers who use
the company’s coffee chaff and burlap and in 2002 became
the first carbon-neutral coffee company.

The
Thanksgiving Coffee Company offers a variety of coffees that are
certified organic, fair trade and shade grown. Visitors to their
online store (www.thanksgivingcoffee.com)
will find more than 50 coffees from which to choose, including
coffee from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Hawaii,
Panama, Ethiopia, Uganda, Laos, and others.

Prices
vary, most falling in the $10-$12 range for a 12 oz. bag.

A
final thought from The Thanksgiving Coffee Company owner, Paul
Katzeff, “when thinking about a family-run business and
how to define one, what comes to mind as a guiding light for all
decisions is a line from Carlos Castaneda’s cult classic
book written in the early 70’s, 'take the path that has
a heart.' This is what we have done to the best of our awareness.
Our hope is that the values imagined in that thought will permeate
all the work we do, including the creation of coffee products
that imply the kind of excellence that any family would be proud
of.” To learn more about, or make a purchase from the Thanksgiving
Coffee Company visit www.ThankgivingCoffee.com.

We have great jobs. Here at the Coffee And Tea Newsletter, our faces light up when the UPS truck pulls up and, like kids on Christmas, we wonder what the driver will deliver to us. Would it be tea samples or coffee samples? Who wouldn’t enjoy trying coffees and teas from around the world. We’ll pick a day and brew up a pot, sit, and discuss our most recent delivery.

Not long ago we received some Jungle Love from Crimson Cup. It is a dark roasted blend of organic beans from Central America and Indonesia. Full-bodied and smooth, this coffee was outstanding. The Certified Organic Shade Blend was an overwhelming hit in the office. Crimson Cup offers a variety of Fair Trade Organic coffees.

Since 1991, Crimson Cup® Coffee & Tea has roasted and packaged quality, great-tasting coffee in Columbus, Ohio and taught business owners how to be successful in specialty coffee. In September 2007, they opened our very first retail store, located in the north Columbus community of Clintonville. For more information or to make a purchase visit www.crimsoncup.com.